Finding Ever After (12 page)

           
When that movie ended neither of us got up to put in another. I closed my eyes
and rested my head against the back of the couch. I enjoyed the quiet and
wondered how long I could ignore him before he would speak up.

           
“I’ll play you for them.” About thirty seconds.

           
“What?” I looked over at him confused.

           
“Do you have a deck of cards?”

           
“Yes.” I eyed him quizzically, trying to figure out what he had in mind.

           
“Go get them.” He still didn’t provide an explanation, but I was curious, so I
got up to retrieve the cards. When I returned with the deck of cards he took
them from me and began shuffling them. Then he dealt them out, splitting the
deck between us. “Do you know how to play poker?”

           
“We’re not playing strip poker.” He laughed.

           
“That’s not what I was going to suggest, but I like your idea better.” I glared
at him. “Fine, no strip poker, but you still
haven’t
answered my question. Do you know how to play?” I shook my head and he thought
about it for a minute. “Okay then, we’ll play war for the M&M’s.” We’d made
a considerable dent in the snacks but the giant bag of my favorite candy was
still pretty full.

           
“War?
That could take forever to win.”

           
“Here’s how we’re
gonna
play, every time there’s a
war, whoever wins gets the number of M&M’s on the card they won with.”
Hmmm
. . .
I didn’t like the idea of giving up any of them.
“Are you
scared of losing to me?” A cocky grin took over his face and he knew he had me.
I’d known him a week and he’d already figured out I didn’t back down from a
challenge.

           
“Fine.
You’re on.” We went back and forth laying down
cards, and I was quickly amassing a large stack. Then we both played sevens.

           
“Ready to say goodbye to your precious M&M’s?”
He
taunted.

           
“Not a chance, lay ‘
em
down.” We both laid three
cards face down and then played one face up. “Ha!” My king beat his nine so I
took my M&M’s and both piles of cards. I had most of the deck in my pile.
This was working out quite nicely for me I thought as I popped the candies into
my mouth and savored them a little dramatically to gloat.

           
We continued play until once again a tie came up, but this time he played an
Ace over my two and was the one to take the M&M’s. He popped each one into
his mouth slowly, exactly as I had, relishing his opportunity to rub in it.

           
The rest of the game followed suit until we were out of the tasty little
candies, but we both had cards left.

           
“What are we going to play for now that you robbed me of M&M’s?” He got a
mischievous look in his eye.

           
“Questions.”

           
“What do you mean questions?” I had a feeling I wouldn’t like where this was
going.

           
“When I win you answer a question, and vice versa.” I almost laughed. The game
was never about the candy. This was his plan the whole time. I hesitated before
agreeing. I had no idea what questions he might ask, and I wondered again how
much he’d already been told. He wouldn’t go easy, it wasn’t in his nature. I
knew that much, but if I refused to play it would only make him that much more
curious about my secrets.

           
“Fine, but only questions I deem are reasonable. I don’t know you that well and
I’m not going to share every personal detail of my life.”

           
“Fair enough.”
We resumed the game, only I was more
anxious now that the stakes were higher. I wouldn’t just be giving up M&M’s
but bits of myself. It would give me the opportunity to pry him with my own
questions and I was looking forward to that. Kyden was the first to win a
question.

           
“Why do all of the pictures here stop when you’re about thirteen?” Okay that
wasn’t too bad, I could handle this.

           
“My mom died from cancer when I was twelve. Until recently I hadn’t been back
to this house since, and almost everything is the same as she left it.” He
nodded his head in understanding but there was no pity in his eyes when he
looked at me and I was thankful for that. I couldn’t stand seeing pity.

           
“Where was your dad?”

           
“
Nuh
uh.
That’s another
question.” I wasn’t giving any freebies.

           
The next war resulted in me getting to question him. I already knew what I
wanted to ask first. “How old were you when you started playing music?”

           
“Four.”

           
“Wow, that’s pretty young.”

           
“Yeah, my mom was all about instilling discipline and having the most
accomplished kid to show off. Started me on the piano first and by the time I
was six I was learning the violin and cello as well. It wasn’t until I was
seven that I got my first guitar and I was hooked.”

           
“Wow that’s really impressive. Do you still play them all?”

           
“I think you’ve used up your question.” He seemed more upset by it than he
should of. For some reason it was a touchy subject but I had no right to pry
when there was so much I was holding back as well. When he won the next war, I
knew what was coming.

           
“Your dad, Princess?”

           
“He wasn’t around when I was a kid. I didn’t meet him until after my mom died.
I was sent to live with him after spending a couple months in foster care while
they tried to track him down.” I’d only recently learned that my dad had
actually known all along where I was, but had his reasons for leaving me there.
It was just one of those new bits of information that left me questioning
whether my father truly was the monster I had always believed him to be or if
there was more to him.

           
“You’re not close with him.” It was more of a statement than a question, but I
still answered.

           
“No I’m not.”

           
The next two questions went to me and I asked basic things, like favorite food.
We both agreed that Mexican is the best, but when I asked him his top ten
favorite movies, that led to a heated debate during which I spent ten minutes
trying to convince him that Will Ferrell is evil. He refused to see reason.

           
I had hoped that by keeping my questions light, he would take the hint and do
the same. I wasn’t expecting him to say, “Your room.”

           
“That’s not a question.”

           
“I want you to show me your room.”

           
“If you think that by getting my into my room, you can-”

           
“That’s not why I want to see it, but if you have something in mind I could be
persuaded.” He added suggestively.

           
“Then why do you want to see it?”

           
“I’m just curious about the room you grew up in; what kind of kid you were.”
That’s twice he said something I wasn’t expecting to hear.

           
“Oh.”

           
“So what’s it going to be Princess?”
Should I show him?
There really
wasn’t anything too personal he could gain from seeing it. It hadn’t been my
room in almost ten years and everything from that time in my life was the good
stuff.

           
“Um sure, I guess.” A real smile spread across his face and suddenly I wanted
to do everything I could to please him just so I could see it again. I gave
myself a mental slap upside the head. Thoughts like those needed to stop.

           
I led him up the stairs and stood in the doorway while Kyden entered the room
and did a full 360, taking in everything. It was a little embarrassing having
him see
all the
pink, and girly frill everywhere, but hey,
I was twelve. He moved to inspect the giant picture collage hanging above my
dresser. It was a timeline of my friendship with Bas. He made it for my tenth
birthday and across the top in big, bold lettering it said “Soc and
Jaz
.”

           
He raised his eyebrows in question.
“Soc and
Jaz
?”

           
“It’s our initials. That’s how I got the nickname Jazz. My full name is Jaxyn
Avery Zane and his is Sebastian Oliver Cross. I don’t remember when we came up
with them, only that mine stuck and he’s used it ever since.”

           
“Cute Princess.”
The only other person in the entire
world who ever called me
Princess
was my mom. Hearing him us that
nickname, in this room that had been my very own enchanted fairy tale land,
caused the memory of my mom telling me to wait for the guy who would treat me
like a princess to resurface. I wanted to laugh. There was no way she meant
someone like Kyden. Everything about him would have made her want to lock me up
in a tower.

           
“Why do you call me that?” I had to know.

           
“The tattoo, Princess.”
Reflexively my hand went to
the back of my neck where the words
‘Once Upon A Time’
were scrolled up
my neck, behind my right ear in elegant, curling script. “I saw it when you
threw yourself on me at the bar.” He smirked.

           
“I was pushed.” I corrected, not that it mattered to him.

           
“If you say so, but you don’t have to be embarrassed. You’re not the first girl
to throw herself at me, although you did it more literally.”

           
“You’re funny.” He wasn’t and my tone let him know that.

           
“And you’re cute Princess.” He ruffled my hair and I wanted to be more
irritated than I was by that. “Seeing all this,
“ He
gestured around the room. “It all makes sense now.” I wasn’t sure what he meant
by that but I felt like I needed to explain.

           
“My mom loved fairytales, and every night before bed she would tell me a story.
Sometimes they were from books or movies and other times she would make one up,
but every single one began with “Once upon a time.” There was always a princess
and no matter what happened, the story would end with a happily ever after.” I
missed those stories
.
I missed the way her eyes would light up as she
spun tales of adventure and true love. I could always tell when the princess
was about to meet her prince charming because my mom’s voice would get excited.
It was her favorite part of every story. My own anticipation would build along
with hers for that inevitable moment when their eyes would meet and the rest of
the world would disappear. In that second, even if the characters didn’t
realize it yet, I knew they were already done for. Soul mates, destiny, divine
intervention, call it what you want but Mom ate that stuff up, and in turn so
did I. Or at least I used to.

           
“I think she loved them so much because her childhood lacked all of that and
she wanted to make sure mine was different. She always encouraged me to believe
in the impossible, have faith no matter what and create my own fairy tale. After
I turned eighteen, getting the tattoo just seemed like a good way to honor her
and remind myself of what she wanted for me.” I felt a little self-conscious
opening up to him so much, like I had just let him have a glimpse inside my
soul, and now he could worm his way in there and see everything.

           
His eyes bore into mine as he closed the distance between us. His hand reached
forward and he tangled his fingers in my hair. He moved slowly around me until
he was standing at my back. With almost no space between our bodies, I felt
like prey in the clutches of a dangerous predator. He swept my hair away from
the spot where the tattoo was, and goose bumps immediately rose over my skin.
He brushed his fingers gently over the words and I couldn’t stop myself from
melting into his touch. I tipped my head down giving him better access.

           
“Beautiful, Princess.”
He let my hair fall back over
my shoulder and he came to stand in front of me again. I was caught in his
piercing gaze. He was so close I could feel the heat emanating from his body
and see his eyes darken as he loomed over me.

           
“Are you going to kiss me?” My voice came out breathless and the corners of his
mouth curved up into a devastating smile.

           
“Believe
me,
you’ll know when I’m going to kiss you.”
He lowered his face until it was just inches from mine. My heart rate increased
and a flush crawled up my neck and over my face. His eyes were locked on mine
and I was unable to look away or move, even though I knew I should. He leaned
in even closer until his lips hovered just over my jaw. He took my chin gently
in one hand and trailed his thumb over my bottom lip. I felt his warm breath on
my neck as he moved to whisper in my ear.

           
“You’re not ready for me yet Princess, but when you are, I promise you won’t
have to ask whether or not I’m going to do it.” Just like that he pulled away
and walked right out of the room. It took me a moment to collect myself and I
was left wondering what the heck just happened.
Holy heart
attack Batman.
I was in trouble. That much I knew.